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how to have a crafty christmas and also not murder anyone.

we're having a crafty little christmas this year, mostly because in october todd took his car in for maintenance and it cost us over nine hundred dollars. (yes, you read that right, and yes, i felt nauseous when i heard the news, too.) so the budget for the kids' gifts is $10. total. combined.

so...ramshackle crafts it is.

one thing i have yet to consistently remember about myself is that, deep down, i usually really hate crafting. i always forget and i look at pinterest and am like, oh i could do that/sew that/glue gun that! how hard can it be? and i drop down and get my crafty on grrrl and it starts out actually really great. i ride this wave of 'i am woman, watch me handstitch' for a while and feel pretty invincible.

but then something goes wrong. my bobbin runs out of thread. the tension gets all wonky. i glue gun my fingers together. and then i start cussing under my breath, but try to fix the problem and power through.

but then the problem is unfixable and something else goes wrong. the freaking ruffle isn't ruffling. the mesh is getting stuck in the sewing machine gears. the machine stops working altogether shortly after the (last) needle (i have on hand) breaks. and then, oh honey. i go ape crap.

no more under-the-breath cussing for me. i'm calling down curses from heaven on my sewing machine. i'm threatening to rip the handmade doll (or, the unfinished parts of the handmade doll) limb from limb. and then i storm out of the room and start to blog instead.

which is why i'm considering printing out a transcript of my blog for each of the kids, putting it in their stockings, and considering them christmas'd. i think they'll like it. at the very least, they'll appreciate that their gifts didn't come at the cost of me murdering someone in my craft-rage and spending christmas in prison.

Hi! I'm Paige Van Voorst, homeschooling mom of six kiddos under the age of nine. We're quickly outgrowing our minivan - it's basically a clown car at this point!
Hang around as I navigate my way through the joys, frustrations, belly laughs, and ridiculous moments with all of these clowns.